How to Run a (Half) Decent Meeting
Tools, tactics and takeaways for meetings that don’t waste your time - or anyone else’s.
There can’t be many people who look forward to meetings. While I’m sure not everyone hates them, it’s not unusual to hear the sighs and quiet complaints - especially when they land at the end of a long day when everyone’s already running on empty.
We’ve all been in those meetings that meander, go in circles, or are dominated by the loudest voices. The kind that repeat themselves, solve nothing, and end with: “Right, let’s pick this up again next week.” You leave wondering what just happened - or why you were even there in the first place.
And yet, meetings do matter. They’re where strategy is devised, clarified, enacted, and where culture is built and key decisions get made.
As an economist, I can see how meetings can be very expensive - especially when more than a few people are involved and the outcomes aren’t clear. It’s not the cost of the coffee and biscuits. It’s the value of the time they take. In schools, where time is painfully limited and often fixed (by the timetable), every minute spent in an unproductive meeting is a minute not doing something that could be directly useful for students. Or worse, it’s energy taken from someone’s evening with their family. Call and run a meeting, and you’re spending other people’s time. So I believe it has to be worth it… it needs to count.
I’m not claiming to be any kind of meeting expert. Some of my own haven’t been great. But after too many hours spent in meeting rooms, this is the practical toolkit I now try to follow to make meetings worth the time they cost. Each section ends with Actionable Takeaways - things you can actually do, not just think about.
Most of what follows, I genuinely do. Some of it, like the CPD sessions I volunteer to lead, are more reminders for myself - things I’m trying to do better or stick to. I won’t say which are still a work in progress, but those who know me will probably see them a mile off!
1. Pre-Meeting: The Prep, the Pre-Load, and the End in Mind
Stephen Covey talks about beginning with the end in mind in 7 Habits, and our school is big on “Backwards By Design” as a concept… these are sound ideas and there’s no reason this shouldn’t apply to meetings.
First, consider why you’re having a meeting and what you want to get out of it. The British Army has a saying: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Couldn’t be more true for meetings.
Know the purpose. Never meet just because it’s “that time of the week.” Every meeting, and every item on the agenda, needs a clear reason to exist.
Invite agenda input early. Ask the team a few days in advance for anything they’d like added. Then publish the agenda at least 24 hours before.
Only invite essential people. Fewer people = tighter focus. Don’t pull people away from high-impact work if they’re not directly involved.
Prewire the room. For high-stakes or potentially tense topics, speak to key people beforehand. Share your thinking, test reactions, and surface objections. The meeting then becomes confirmation, not combat. It might sound Machiavellian, but it’s really just smart preparation.
Actionable Takeaways:
Never start a meeting you haven’t prepped for.
Ask: “If this meeting didn’t happen, what would be missed?”
Get input early and make the agenda visible 24h in advance.
Consider using a “Why You’re Invited” line on the agenda to clarify roles…or at least have this in mind for each participant.
Prewire key stakeholders to reduce surprises and friction.
Only invite decision-makers and contributors, not spectators.
Default to no meeting - can it be solved in a 121, email or video?
2. Structure and Timing: Run It Like You Mean It
Planning is half the battle. Running the meeting well is the other half.
Start on time. End on time. If you wait for latecomers, you punish the punctual. Be strict - people will rise to the standard you set.
Assign a Chair and a Notetaker. The Chair keeps things moving and confirms actions. The Notetaker captures key points and actions, with names and deadlines.
Timebox each agenda item. I like to use start times instead of durations, and stick to them. Ask someone to give a 5-minute warning before the next item is due to start.
Use a Parking Lot. Capture tangents without letting them hijack the meeting. Review them at the end or push them to a future agenda.
Review previous actions first. RAG-rate them - green for done, amber for started, red for stalled. Keep the accountability cycle tight.
Actionable Takeaways:
Always have a Chair and Notetaker. Decide this before the meeting.
Use [INFO], [DISCUSS], [DECIDE] after each item in the agenda for clarity of purpose.
Timebox tightly. Use 5-minute warnings and move on when time’s up.
Use a Parking Lot to stop rabbit holes dead in their tracks.
Start by reviewing RAG-rated previous actions. Red? Reassign or unblock. Amber means WIP and Green = Done
End every meeting with 2 minutes of personal reflection: “What will I take away and act on?”
3. Actually Running the Meeting
This could be considered performance. How you deliver the meeting matters more than anything (assuming you’ve got the right people in the room and the agenda is appropriate, that is!)
Set the tone. Open with energy and clarity: “Thanks for being here. We have some incredibly important work to do together today.”
Control the pace. Keep it brisk. Cut waffle. Park tangents. Don’t be afraid to cut in and move on.
Draw in quieter voices. Ask, using names, directly: “What’s your take, Mark?” or “Mark, how would this affect your team?” Wait. Don’t fill the silence too soon.
Use simple activities to sharpen thinking:
Pre-mortem: “What could cause this to fail?” These give the team a reason to tear apart an idea or project - then fix it.
Silent start: Give people 2 mins to read or think before discussing. Bezos doesn’t expect people to do the pre-reading - he builds it in. (H/T to RDA for the reminder on this)
Two-word check-in: Ask for a two-word summary of people’s views before diving into discussion.
Reverse pitch: Ask someone to argue the opposite case to test assumptions. A bit like de Bono’s Black Hat thinking.
Clarify decisions. Repeat what’s been agreed, who owns it, and the deadline. Say it aloud. Confirm it with the team.
Actionable Takeaways:
Open with intent - set the tone and tell people why they’re here and what you want to achieve together.
Use names to draw in quieter voices - plan who you’ll involve and give space for their input.
Pick one thinking tool to deepen discussion: pre-mortem, silent start, two-word check-in, or reverse pitch - and run it with purpose.
End every discussion point by locking in next steps - name the owner, the action, and the deadline.
Know who your advocates and who you’ve prewired.
State the action clearly, confirm everyone’s aligned, and capture it in the notes.
4. Follow-Up: Where Most Meetings Fail
Even the best meeting is wasted if there’s no follow-through.
Send a summary fast. Within 24 hours if you can. Keep it sharp: bullet-pointed action items, who owns them, and deadlines.
Track momentum. Quietly check in with people before the next meeting. Nudge, clarify, unblock. People don’t work on things they do not think are being monitored, so always ‘touch base’.
Avoid endless rollover. If items or actions keep being delayed, either fix the blocker or cut it from the agenda.
Actionable Takeaways:
Use the same doc for Agenda + Notes + Actions. Keep it tidy and consistent.
Use AI (Otter, Fireflies, ChatGPT) to summarise fast - then edit, don’t just copy/paste.
Send follow-up within 24h, with 3 headers max: Summary, Actions (and owners), Deadlines.
Quiet nudges between meetings change everything - follow-up is where leadership shows and things get done.
Rollovers = failure. Reassign, escalate, or remove blockers fast.
Final Thoughts: Make It Worth It
Half-decent meetings, done consistently well, can transform culture. They show respect for people’s time and focus, model clarity, and build momentum.
You don’t need to be the world’s best facilitator - but you do need to care about the time, energy, and attention you’re asking others to spend.
If you want buy-in, build it. If you want follow-through, model it. Meetings are the stage where leadership gets seen - or exposed.
That’s the bar: not perfect, but worth it.
So next time you’re about to run one, don’t wing it…:
Prep like it matters.
Run it with purpose.
Follow through.
Respect the costs.
You might just run a meeting people don’t dread.
And if you’re lucky, one they actually value.